India Wright

📍St Paul’s Cathedral

I thought I’d share some more behind the scenes shots of St Paul’s Cathedral from my visit there with the Cambridge Building History MSt back in 2019, together with some interior photographs for reference.

Many of these ‘back room’ spaces, known as the Triforium, are available to see as part of the Treasures Tour, but we also had access to some places not usually open to the public.

Perhaps the most spine tingling of these was the roof space above the domed quire (seen in image 4). I really enjoyed experiencing some of the quieter spaces as we ascended the building via the Geometric Staircase (or Dean’s Stair), first to an elevated view of the nave (image 8 - still kicking myself for not getting a symmetrical shot! 😆). Then we passed the library of stonework salvaged from the cathedral’s predecessor which succumbed to the Great Fire of London in 1666. Into the room holding the original wooden model Sir Christopher Wren commissioned to help convey his design intentions, making it so large to help those he was trying to convince in imagining themselves inside the space. Onwards to the Cathedral’s library, which was being renovated at the time we visited.

We ended our visit with a circuit of the Whispering Gallery and then up above the dome for a view over London from the Golden Gallery. A very special experience.

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#cathedral #architecturalhistory #londonarchitecture